The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Tiraz with gold

1020–35

Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of Caliph al-Zahir, 1020–1035

Plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen, silk, and gold filé

Overall: 16.9 x 9.7 cm (6 5/8 x 3 13/16 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1982.109

Location

not on view

Description

The dominant gold ground of a tripartite band displays horned bovines with cloven hooves alternating with stylized palmette trees flanked by opposing lines of text on the dark blue linen ground. The historical inscription is written in kufic script with elongated bowls of the lower letters. The text and epigraphy indicate a date during the caliphate of al-Zahir (r. 1020–35).

Inscriptions

Inscription

Lower line (inverted): "[In] the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no god but Allāh alone." Upper line: "[son of the imam al-Haki]m bi-amr-Allāh, Commander of the Faithful, God's benedictions."

Provenance
Mrs. Paul Mallon, Paris.
Citations
Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 104, fig. 3.20: Mentioned: P. 105, 215
Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).

Textiles from Egypt, Syria and Spain: 7th through 15th centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 26-June 6, 1991).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.109